design
Art and Art History
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Design and Film School Connection

Undergraduate Design Program

Degree Plan: Bachelor of Fine Arts – Design

Download Curriculum Overview: B.F.A. Design Curriculum (pdf - download adobe reader.)

Undergraduate Research and Activities

Design History Lab Spring 2004

Design in Texas

Design and the Social Environment Research Website

Senior Design Show: 1999, 2000, 2002–2007 Opens in a new window

IDEA: Interdisciplinary Design Association

Take–Time: A large scale installation by UT Design Undergraduates
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Degree Description
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design degree is a pre–professional degree that features 33 hours of general education requirement (comprised of courses in Rhetoric, English, Government, History, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Natural Sciences), 9 hours elective, 6 hours fine art courses, 12 hours art history, 15 hours studio art, and 45 hours in design. Total degree hours is 120. With 60 hours of the total degree hours in curriculum outside studio art and design and with 60 hours of studio art and deisgn course required, the B.F.A. Design degree is well suited for students who are primarily interested in developing their design skills to prepare for graduate study or a professional career in design or the visual arts.

Program Definition
Design as a complex cultural activity expresses the ideas and values of society while it contributes to the formulation of those ideas and values. The goal of the nontraditional design program within the Department of Art and Art History is to encourage students to use the design process as a method of understanding their culture and to effectively articulate this understanding to others. Design is a pervasive term that envelops almost every aspect of contemporary culture from town planning and landscaping, to familiar products and web or software interfaces. It has been said that “design is a way of making sense of things” and this may ultimately be the best way to define such an all–encompassing practice. Designers studying in this program are taught to observe and respond to the cultural, socio/economic, material, political, geographic and temporal environment. During their course of study students identify and refine a design process and methodology that is appropriate for application across a broad range of disciplines. This is a comprehensive education that allows our graduates to navigate the shifting requirements of the field with greater ease, and which invests them with a flexibility needed to practice successfully in a range of venues. Students in this program typically function between the fields more commonly categorized as graphic design, product/industrial design, film/animation, and architecture, creating hybrid environments and artifacts. Though students may investigate these areas within the context of design history, methods and theory, the program itself does not focus on or offer specific curriculum in advertising, analog or digital animation, commercial art, gaming design, or illustration.

Undergraduate Curriculum
The curriculum supports the idea that design students need to comprehend the fundamental nature of their area, its boundaries, inquiry methods, criticism, history, technologies and practice before they can use design meaningfully to explore and contribute to the diverse facets of their culture. The sophomore year outlines the role of design in our culture, its history, and introduces basic tools and concepts necessary to actualize ideas. The junior year, while continuing to emphasize design as a cultural activity, introduces more complex ideas regarding systems, persuasion, representation and social action. The senior year includes a course which introduces perspectives from outside the faculty, a senior project, and a design praxis which covers ethics, legal aspects of design and provides professional practice experience.

Students who successfully complete the curriculum would be qualified to continue their studies through graduate programs in design, cultural studies or interdisciplinary studies. They also would be qualified to practice as designers in consultancies, in private or public institutions, or as entrepreneurs.

Design and Technology
Technology is both an important tool in design ideation and realization and a major and pervasive component of the fabric which constitutes contemporary culture. From this standpoint, students are asked to investigate a range of enabling technologies as they bear on culture and on the design process, and to question how technology affects their personal methodology. Although computers are used as a tool throughout the Design program, no course is specifically written to emphasize computers. Within the design area students have access to several well–equipped labs, each tailored to a specific technology. These are traditional letterpress printing, black and white photography, graphic arts photography, and the relatively new and constantly expanding digital technology.

Special Admissions Note
Application to the B.F.A. Design program requires an additional application as well as completion of course prerequisites after acceptance into the Department. One year’s prerequisite studio art coursework is required prior to acceptance to the B.F.A. Design program itself. In order to have access to the prerequisite studio art courses within our department, you need to apply for admission as Predesign (admission code 509900). After completing the prerequisite courses, you will then need to apply to the B.F.A. Design program. The Design Divisions accepts 18–20 students into the B.F.A. Design program annually out of a pool of 40–60 applicants. If admitted you will need three years of DES curriculum to complete the degree. Due to limited number of classes and the unique sequencing of the curriculum, it is not possible to complete this degree program any faster. Those applicants who cannot dedicate one year of prerequisite ART courses and three years of DES courses should consider looking at other Commercial Art, Design, or Visual Communication programs. Applicants not accepted into the program must decide to either change their major to another in the department or across campus, or could transfer out of The University. Other Commercial Art, Design, or Visual Communication programs in Texas can be found at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, University of Houston–Downtown, University of North Texas in Denton, and other University of Texas System schools.

Additional information on admissions, programs, and curriculum is included in this downloadable PDF document:
Undergraduate Admissions and Program Guide (pdf - download adobe reader.)

Contacts

Prospective applicants wishing to visit with Shane about the Art History program should arrange an appointment in advance of visiting the department. Please see Visiting the Department for detailed information.

Ramey Guerra, Academic Advisor I
Art History Advising

Email: rameyguerra@mail.utexas.edu (Please allow 24 to 48 hour response time for email reply.)
Phone: 512-475-7718
Fax: 512-471-7801
Office: ART 3.334
Campus Mail Code: D1300

You may also contact the undergraduate advisor by writing to the following address:


Undergraduate Advising Office
Department of Art and Art History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station D1300
Austin, TX 78712–0337

Information Request Form

Self–Guided Tour Map (pdf - download adobe reader.)